Please forgive my lack of knowledge. I'm trying to figure out a future project, and want a screaming 22 for 75 or 80gr Amax's to do some vermin control. I understand that the CHeetah is based on the 308 benchrest case, so it uses a small primer. There is a local guy that had a Cheetah who used 243 brass for his to use the large primer pocket. They both have a 40 degree sholulder. This left me confused so:
1. Is there any real difference other than the original parent case?
2. Is one more popular than the other?
3. Any better 22 caliber for specified use that uses equally available parts, and is easy to form. If it makes any difference, I have ZERO interest in a tight neck with the need to turn the cases.

Your help is greatly appreciated. wk

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"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who's face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt

Thanks Cheyenne19,
Does anyone have a suggestion outside of the 308 based case down to 22, or is this is good as it gets?

__________________
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who's face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt

All these names apply to the 6mm Remington case necked down to 224 caliber. I have one in 10-twist that works very well with the 70 grain Berger VLD. It shoots one and two-tenths groups at 100 at 3,644 FPS. This bullet is not as explosive on P-dogs as are the polymer-tipped bullets, but it works well if you are only interested in killing them. I have another barrel in 8.5 twist that I am having chambered in the same cartridge. The 22/6mm only requires that you run a 6mm Remington case through the 22/6mm die to neck it down and then trim to length. Hornady makes a great die set for this cartridge.

I won't mislead you, I haven't had the barrel long enough to give any estimate on its life, but so far the throat looks like it will be about as long lived as a 6x284, which will put it in the 1,000 to 1,400 shot range.

Mr. Lonnie Hummel of Hornady is a wealth of knowledge on this cartridge. He uses it in 1,000 yard competition. He says that he gets great life out of his barrels by reduced the powder charge to get 3,400 FPS with the 75 or 80 grain A-Max and cleaning very regularly. He has some barrels that he has gotten 2500+ rounds out of. He says it shoots flat enough that you don't need a scope mount with any additional MOA built in to shoot at 1,000 yards.

I have owned a 22-243AI for quite awhile. It will produce amazing accuracy with the 75gr A-Max. Best group was .625" @ 600 yards laser ranged & witnessed. The rifle was used exclusively to kill PA groundhogs out to 1,000 yards. Many, many extended range kills were made with instant lethality.

Naturally, throat life will be limited with any cartridge with this much case capacity and a .224 bore, particularely if you allow the barrel to get hot or are not maticulous about barrel cleaning.

At about 1,000 rounds I decided to set the barrel back and rechamber. Only this time I rechambered in 22-243 (plain). It is a straight forward operation to neck down .243 Lapua cases and just start shooting - no fireforming which needlessly wastes valuable barrel life. Saves time, saves money and quality match grade dies are MUCH cheaper. The AI version was a learning experience and fun to play with but my advise would be to avoid all the various configurations which require fireforming or special order dies & equiptment.

I might add that a .224 bore cartridge with .243 case capacity (or more) is all but usless with any bullets except the real heavy weights. For lighter bullets you would be much better served with a standard 22-250 or 220 Swift. IMO

My gunsmith was so pleased with the results achieved with this new reamer that he built a rifle for himself. However, he used his rifle for deer hunting. He told me that it was one of his rifles that he enjoyed shooting the most and that it was very effective at harvesting whitetails.